Travel Sep. 22, 2010 - 01:34PM JST ( 2 )

Air China on Wednesday launched direct flights between Chengdu and Tokyo. Flights are operated on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

With the flight number CA423/4, the flights depart from Chengdu Shuangliu Airport at 8 a.m. to arrive at Narita Airport at 13:40 local time.

The return flights depart from Tokyo Narita Airport at 14:50 and arrive at Chengdu Shuangliu Airport at 19:20 local time.

Previously, Air China launched three routes from Chengdu to Japan, including the Chengdu-Beijing-Tokyo and Chengdu-Shanghai-Nagoya routes with flights available daily, and the Chengdu-Dalian-Osaka route with three flights available every week.

Japan relaxed its visa requirements for Chinese tourists in July, and the number of Chinese tourists to Japan continues to increase. In 2009, Sichuan received 166,910 Japanese tourists; the number during the period from January to May 2010 was 47,601, an increase of 33.83% over the same period last year.